China shares slip as financials weaken

China stocks dipped slightly as financial shares weighed. At 04:05 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was down 3.98 points or 0.12 per cent at 3,276.83.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.14 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.43 per cent, the consumer staples sector up 0.97 per cent, the real estate index up 0.01 per cent and healthcare sub-index down 0.12 per cent.

The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.09 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.42 per cent.

The yuan was quoted at 6.6182 per US dollar, 0.05 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.6215.

So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 5.71 per cent, while China’s H-share index is up 20.4 per cent. Shanghai stocks have declined 1.1 per cent this month.

The top gainers among H-shares were Air China Ltd up 8.81 per cent, followed by Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd gaining 3.91 per cent and PetroChina Co Ltd up by 2.11 per cent.

About 5.83 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 34.0 per cent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 17.17 billion shares a day.